Chefs at Vegfest 2015

The following chefs presented in 2015.

Miyoko Schinner

Miyoko Schinner, vegan chef,
cookbook author, and television cooking show host, has been promoting delicious,
decadent, and healthful plant-based foods for the past thirty years. Her most
recent cookbook, Artisan Vegan Cheese, is a top-selling book on Amazon, and has
been called “The holy grail of the culinary world.” She is a co-host of Vegan
Mashup, a new cooking show on public television, and stars in her own whimsical
online show, Miyoko’s Kitchen. As a cooking instructor, she teaches regularly in
the McDougall Program, and at festivals and events around the country. She is a
former restaurateur (Now and Zen, San Francisco), and food developer, and has
had her vegan products distributed nationwide as well as on United Airlines. She
has appeared in publications, television, and radio, including VegNews, NPR, ABC
World News Tonight, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, Washington
Post, New York Post, Eating Well, and many other media outlets.

Chat MingKwan

Chat MingKwan. As the youngest boy in an urban family of Bangkok, Chat was often left behind to help his aunt prepare the family dinner while his older brothers and sisters ran off to play. At first, he despised the cooking task but later learned to enjoy the knowledge and skills. He gradually fine tuned the skill and continued cooking as commendation and praise were his only rewards and encouragement.

He came to the US to pursue higher education in a design field, while cooking and training in a French restaurant a part-time as a hobby; his first big step in the culinary profession. Later, he followed his yearning culinary passion by apprenticing at La Cagouille in provincial French cuisine in Rayon, France. Returning to the US, he offered his French cooking always with a twist of Thai or perfected his Thai cooking with a hint of French techniques to fit the western kitchen. He traveled extensively throughout Southeast Asia and realized a wealth of culinary knowledge among these countries and their unique cuisine. He again became an apprentice, this time of Southeast Asian cuisine and easily mastered the skill with his Thai cooking background. He’s now doing what he likes most: cooking, teaching, traveling, writing, and making sure that people who come in contact with him have a full stomach and a good time.

Chat has written several cookbooks including Buddha’s Table, Vietnamese Fusion and Asian Fusion.

Bianca Phillips

Bianca Phillips has been piddlin’
around her mama’s and granny’s kitchens since she was knee-high to a grasshopper
(that’s Southern speak for “really little”). She hasn’t had any fancy culinary
training, but she’s a firm believer that great Southern chefs learn to cook from
the soul. The Arkansas native and current resident of Memphis, Tennessee grew up
not too far from the muddy banks of the Mississippi River. That meant cornbread,
butter beans, collard greens, and Paula Deen.

As a 7-year vegan and 17-year vegetarian, Bianca is dedicated to veganizing soul
food and country classics. She is the author of
Cookin' Crunk: Eatin'
Vegan in the Dirty South, a soulful collection down-home comfort food
recipes made without meats, eggs, dairy, or other animal by-products. Bianca
blogs daily at Vegan Crunk,
where she posts photos of everyday eats, recipes, cookbook reviews, and vegan
product reviews (and the occasional adorable cat picture, of course). By day,
Bianca is an editor and reporter at the Memphis Flyer, an alt-weekly newspaper.
She lives in Memphis with her partner Paul, two mutts, and six cats.

Sunita Shastri

Sunita Shastri was born in the
South Indian state of Karnataka. Her passion for good food started early from
watching her mother cook. She has a Bachelor of Science degree from Mysore
University in India, and came to the U.S. after marriage. Ms. Shastri has an
M.B.A. from City University in Seattle, and has always dreamed about starting
her own food company, which she did in June 2003 under the name “Meghana Foods”
(named after her daughter). This company is now a growing food products
enterprise in the Pacific Northwest under the brand name Taazaä.

Sunita is very passionate about spreading the secrets of Indian foods. She has
shared some of her favorite recipes in her cookbook “Indian Vegetarian
Delights”. Her background in vegetarian South Indian cooking adds a unique
element to this book, since most Indian cookbooks tend to focus on North Indian
recipes.

Sarah Taylor

Sarah Taylor has been a vegan since 2002 when she read Diet for a New America by John Robbins. Both the philosophy and the science supporting a vegan diet convinced her to go vegan, and she has never looked back. In 2006, Sarah started a company called The Vegan Next Door in an effort to spread the word about the vegan diet. She is now a motivational speaker, trainer, and author.

In her personal time, Sarah serves on the Board of Directors at Washington Women's Employment and Education, enjoys playing competitive tennis, scuba diving, reading and adventure traveling. She is happily married and lives in Gig Harbor, WA with her husband and many pets.

Steve Meyerowitz

Steve Meyerowitz was christened "Sproutman" in the 1970s in a feature article in Vegetarian Times because his New York City apartment was always filled with gardens of mini-vegetables. They were part of his lifetime fight against chronic allergies and asthma. In 1980, he founded "The Sprout House", a "no-cooking" school in New York City teaching the benefits of a living foods diet.

Steve is a health crusader and author of 10 books including Sprouts The Miracle Food, Power Juices Super Drinks, Wheatgrass Nature's Finest Medicine, Juice Fasting and Detoxification, and Food Combining and Digestion. His latest book is Sproutman’s 7-day Just Juice Diet.

Steve has been featured on PBS, the Home Shopping Network, TV Food Network, and in Better Nutrition, Prevention, Organic Gardening and Flower & Garden Magazines. His sprouting inventions, such as the "Hemp Sprout Bag" are sold nationwide. You can visit him at www.Sproutman.com.